History[edit]
The project began in February 2009 with the posting online of the first version of boundary lines for eighty-seven Los Angeles city neighborhoods. The map was then "redrawn with the help of readers who agreed or disagreed with our initial boundaries." The media company said: "After reviewing this collective knowledge, Times staffers adjusted more than 100 boundaries, eliminated some names and added others."[1]
According to the Times, the project "was created by the Data Desk, a team of reporters and Web developers in downtown L.A."[1]

Scope[edit]
The Times said that the Mapping L.A. project became the media company's "resource for neighborhood boundaries, demographics, crime and schools." The results as posted are searchable by address and ZIP code or by individual neighborhood.[1] It noted that:
The maps cover the 4,000 square miles of Los Angeles County — by far the most populous county in the nation — from the high desert to the coast. In 2009, there were an estimated 9.8 million residents, up from 9.5 million counted in the 2000 U.S. census, the basis for The Times’ demographic analysis for each neighborhood and region. Unlike most other attempts at mapping L.A., this one follows a set of principles intended to make it visually and statistically coherent. It gathers every block of the city into reasonably compact areas leaving no enclaves, gaps, overhangs or ambiguities.[1]

Sources[edit]
The Times's database editor, Doug Smith, and a researcher, Maloy Moore, standardized the neighborhood boundaries "based on historical and anecdotal definitions, civic proclamations and reader commentary." "Thousands of city blocks" were converted "into a complete picture of Los Angeles neighborhoods, with no ambiguities, overlaps or missing pieces."[2]